Author: Leo

The film starts of as a flashback with a group of friends hanging out, two of them are really close friends and have been longer than with everyone else. One of them said that the are leaving to live in another country (America/Australia/New Zealand etc.) Flashback ends and goes to the next shot with the group of friends hanging out with two of them not their and they bring up how the guy that left was supposed to be back for about a month. one of the other friends that aren’t with them bumps into them and explains why he is not with them and then later ditches them. one of the boys of the group leaves the other to follow him to find out that he is meeting the guy that left. the next shot shows a conversation between the two and then they are interrupted by the follower. an argument soon break out which ceases when the rest of the group shows up because they were told to come to the location because their was a surprise. the character that is leaving tells them that for the holidays he is going to invite them over to the country. he also explains he wanted to spend his time here with his closest friend. after some apologies, forgiveness and small banter, the character leaves to go home (maybe include a good shot of him walking on the embankment bridge with a train passing by).

What we learn about Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley is that it was him who was leaving the presents for Jem and Scout in the knothole by the tree, the one that Nathan Radley (Boo’s brother) filled with cement. Boo is emotionally damaged, he keeps to him, stays distant from everyone else by staying in his house most of the time and the gifts in the tree is mainly the way he communicates with the siblings.

The reason why Jem cried when the whole was plugged is the same as how Harper Lee shows sympathy for Boo. The connection Boo has is cut off even after all the help he gifts he has done such as the soap and the mended pants, Jem sees how Boo’s brother covering the hole as simply cruel. In addition, Jem probably cried a lot because the relation between him and Boo has become more sentimental because Jem knows it was him placing the gifts. When the whole was plugged Jem was heartbroken that that relationship is cut off and later when he was comforting Scout it was just him hiding what he was feeling by placing the emotional response on her. He probably does not want people to know about his real feelings.

Ms Dubose is thought to be wicked but it was revealed that she had an illness and had stopped taking her medication causing her to be on a great deal of pain, which may explain her cruelness. After her husband died she is suffering from depression and tries to detach herself from the world so imagine her disappointment when Jem destroys her camellia and as his punishment he has to read to her for a whole month.

She has proven to be hostile, not in a physical or illegal way, ‘plain hell’ as Scout would describe. She has a well known reputation as a racist, which is why the Finchs are not fond of her. However, Atticus looks past that and she admires her strength and courage she uses to fight her morphine addiction. Jem only sees her cruel side so he despises her and Scout is the same, she is grossed out by her look, she finds her a distressing, barely human force who angers and scare people through her words and presence. Ms Dubose and the Finchs’ have a personal relation more than anyone else has with her and whether or not Jem and Scout have a change if heart we will have to see.

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/A-Time-to-Kill/1049750?trkid=222336

There are many dates that are key moment s for the Ku Klux Klan. They were were first founded on 24th December 1866. By the 1870s they were spread all across the southern states, however, later that year southern Governments decided to take action by sending forces to suppress Klan movements and by 1876 the south was under Democratic control. White Protestant nativist later revived the Ku Klux Klan in 1915, by 1920 the Klan peaked with 4 million followers. With thanks to the Great Depression, from 1930 the Klan reduced until it was disbanded again in 1944 but only temporally. From the 1950s onwards, the Ku Klux Klan were not officially formed but several other group made public statements through bombing, beatings, shootings and other illegal acts under the Klans name. and this carried on even up till now. by 1990s there was an estimate that there are between 6’000 and 10’000 members.

There is a scene int he book ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ where Jem is concerned that the KKK is after him due to his views on black people. Atticus made a reference of the Klan in the 1920s and then stated ‘The Ku Klux’s gone, it’ll never come back’. this shows that Atticus stand by his opinion on black people and that he is not intimidated. However you can see the irony as the Klan is reformed again after WWII.

‘The Maycomb County courthouse was faintly reminiscent of Arlington in one respect: the concrete pillars supporting its south roof were too heavy for their burden’. This quote is a description Scout gives of the courthouse in Maycomb before the hearing that she and Jem attended to see Atticus. The part of the quote that I want to focus on is the concrete pillars holding the south roof and that they are too heavy for their burden. Like all buildings, a roof would be pointless without a structure to support it, in this case it is Scout and Jem (concrete pillars) supporting Atticus (roof/burden). Atticus is a father to Scout and Jem, as a character Harper Lee made him represent morality and reason and as Atticus he wants to pass that on to his children. Atticus is the burden and the reason we see Scout and Jem as ‘too heavy’ is because Atticus has a major reputation and and as Scout describes the situation she believe that what her father does will have a major impact on them. This is the reason why Atticus maintains a high moral and treads carefully when attending court because what he does can have an effect on his children. This is why the concrete pillars are too heavy for their burden, the children will have a longer and more effective view than their father.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, there are many scenes where we think of Harper Lee’s moral position in the book. Through her characters she places them in situations where morality is tested. the most recent situation I read about is the scene after Scout and Jem have a fight in Jem’s room and they discover Dill was under the bed. After Dill explained how he got there in the first place it was not long until everyone noticed Atticus at the door. Everyone thought Atticus was mad to find that Dill snuck in, instead he responded with ‘Just hungry, I’ll bet.’ and his actions were described as ‘Atticus’s voice had its usual pleasant dryness.’ Atticus offered him to come down and eat instead of sending him back home because he knew Dill came here for help instead of going anywhere else. Atticus is a good example of a good morally correct character, during the time this book was set there was a lot of racism, in a scene where Scout asked Atticus about the term ‘nigger-lover’, Atticus explained that it is a term given to someone giving special rights to an African-American. Scout asked if he is one with Atticus responding that he is ‘most certainly not’ for he tries to love everyone no matter the race. This shows that Atticus has a good moral to everyone and that he is a perfect example of the moral capabilities of a person. Harper Lee lived in the time this book was set in so she knows how some situations such as racism were carried out. She used Atticus to show how she thought of that very situation and that she would never be unfair towards anyone of any race.

The Thought Readers is an action/drama/fantasy novel by Dima Zales. It follows the life of Darren form his perspective. Darren works at a high end hedge fund making insane amounts of money, he graduated Harvard at eighteen and he makes money at the casinos in Atlantic City. He gets great accomplishment, great grades in school and makes God knows how much money, so, do you want to know his secret. (introduction to Darren)’Everyone thinks I’m a genius. Everyone is wrong. Sure, I finished Harvard at eighteen and now make crazy money at a hedge fund. But that’s not because I’m unusually smart or hardworking. It’s because I cheat.’ Darren has a unique ability to stop time around him, leave an empty shell of him where he was and is free to roam the are. He calls this place or trance or realm the Quiet. In the Quiet he can walk around, he does not get hungry, he does not get tired, his watch still works so he knows how long he splits but nothing other than that will work. He can also move people, hit people, knock them over, essentially he can move anything but when he return to normal everything return back to the way it was as if nothing happened because in real time not a single second is passed. Darren has his best friend Bert who his a tech wizard/hacker who also works at the hedge fund and always helps Darren. Darren also has his moms. Yes, moms, plural and he has no knowledge of his father or true heritage. Darren thought he was alone and that there was no one else out there like him until he met Mira and her brother Eugene. After a very complicated explanation of who each other are and their situation, Mira and Eugene manage to shed some light on things for Darren. Darren took a test to prove that he is Reader. He was told that there is an entire community of Readers, people with the ability to split into the Mind Dimension (Quiet), that’s how they call it, and they could go up to people, make contact with them and go into their minds and see their memories from their perspective. Darren have also discovered that their is another community called Pushers. People who could also split but cannot read minds. Instead they have the ability to place thought in people’s minds making them do what ever the want like puppet, completely take over their free will. Readers cannot do this like Pushers cannot Read. Something else was new to Darren, Mira and Eugene told him that there is a limit to the amount of time someone can stay in the quiet and how far they can go into someones memories. For an average Reader it is no longer than an hour, it is unknown how long he/she can stay, Mira can stay for fifteen minutes and Eugene can stay for ten. Darren said that his longest time was two whole days and maybe longer. Darren has also shown that he can go back months into people’s memories. Situations begin to escalate as the group ends up involved with the Russian mob. Darren has been given a opportunity to meet the community of Readers for help which was decline because Mira and Eugene are exiled (it is a very traditional community) but they are still helped by Julia and Caleb. The story progresses further with Darren beginning to get use to the truth, the amount of trust between everyone and his new abilities. However, Darren discovers he is capable of doing something that is impossible for either Reader or Pusher and that it might change everything and put trust and friendship to the ultimate test.

What makes Darren an antihero is that he misuses his powers for self gain. Although, he does use his abilities to help his friends and he is against using is on his family. But he use abilities on other people to see what they see for fun or try and get something out of it, he gives a whole new meaning to invasion of privacy. Darren will fight for the people he cares about but has disregard for the lives of other. However, after discovering what else he is capable of everyone is left wonder exactly how much power does he have? He exceeds the power limit of all Readers and Pushers. Darren is left with more questions than answers: will his friends still trust him? Will his parents still be there for him? What is his true heritage? While Darren is first potrayed to be an antihero, we have to see whether he picks a side or not because either way he will be hunted down. This story leaves Darren wondering what happens next and then leaving the fact whether or not he stays an antihero undetermined.

Portal 24 is a sci-fi action novel by Meredith Stroud. It focus on the life of Darius Simms as he is saved and taken in by Project Oberon, a mysterious government with the intentions of using it highly classified experiment of using a time machine. Darius was saved by one of Oberon’s agents and decided to join them for a reason he has not fully understand. He is met with a team of four other teenagers: Bianca, team captain, combat specialist and not really fond of Darius, Malik, the teams marksman and weapons specialist, Constance, the teams wheelman and engineer and Leon, the teams hacker and tech expert. As soon as Darius got a chance to meet the team, go through a brutal training session and was told how the portal worked (which was to complicated for me to explain) he is thrown right into a mission. the mission was fairly simple: prevent criminal mastermind Ludd from detonating a worldwide permanent EMP bomb, and it has to be done in twenty-four hours otherwise they will get trapped in time forever. Talk about no pressure.

I am going to focus more on Darius’ character. As soon as you start the book you are introduced to Darius, a young teenager that has a good life going with his girlfriend and a reputation of being a con-artist. Darius merely finds people with fat wallets, befriends them and tricks them into a card trick which was suppose to be a plan to get other people’s attention but resulted in Darius taking most of his ‘partner’s’ money. This shows Darius to be a deceptive teen who will befriend people only for his benefit and then leaving them. this would be a ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’ situation. There is another scene that shows Darius’ darker side. When at Oberon gearing up for the mission, Darius is approach by Bianca and after a little argument, bare in mind no one at Oberon explained why they recruited Darius or anything else that is going on, Darius was about to leave and when Bianca grabs him, he swings around puling a gun on her and the rest of the team. Darius does not trust everyone around so he does not like to be ordered around implying himself to the team that they need need him more than he needs them. However, this dramatic show ended when Bianca snatches the gun and puts him on the ground remarking ‘the safety was off’ leaving Darius a little humiliated. One more scene shows Darius’ using his unique ability of messing with the mind. He was educated on a previous team member that failed to return from a mission by not getting to the portal within the twenty-four hour window. He had a close personal relationship with Bianca. During a training session with her, Darius was being dropped on his but several times and he thought it would be wise to bring this fallen friend up. In an attempt to catch her at a moment of weakness, Darius was injured seriously after upsetting Bianca.

So far Darius has been shown to be deceptive and intolerable. On the other hand, there is a kindness that comes with him. Darius agreed to join and help Oberon so he can go back to his girlfriend and he when he discovered that the world is at stake, nothing got in the way of him protecting the people he cares about. In addition, Darius is a people’s person, in more ways than one, Darius became friends with his teammates (including Bianca) and has earned their trust as well as Oberon’s. He has shown to actually care about other people and he his willing to work with them. However, this does not mask the fact that Darius still does not fully trust them. He does not know why Oberon have chosen him and as i have said in the beginning, Oberon is a mysterious government meaning they could still be hiding something from him and Darius is intrigued to find out what else does he need to know.

A very common trait of an antihero is that they tend to be crazy minded like ‘running into a brick wall head first without a helmet on purpose’. Darius has been shown to be able to show some unthinkable initiative. One scene in particular that shows this is when Darius told the team his plan to storm the enemy’s headquarters using their small team and little equipment. By dropping from a plane their own weapon, which just so happens to be a rebooted, large human shape robot that is also a walking tank capable of taking on an army. Is that crazy enough for you. Darius has shown to have the light, dark and crazy traits of being an antihero, someone who will protect the ones he cares about and will bring down anyone in his way, that he has a limited amount of people he can trust and that he does not like to be left in the dark.

In ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, there have been many quotes that lead us, as the reader, to question the definition of pride and shame. I do not mean this as if they are wrong but as if what does it really mean. In my opinion I would define pride as the feeling one can get after they know they accomplished something personally and and that i makes them feel they did something right. Shame would be they feeling someone would get after they avoid an action that they could have done that could benefit others in a good way. you would just stand there with people pointing at you saying ‘why didn’t you do anything?’ or you would be saying it to yourself and you are left with the emotion of guilt.

In order to gain that feeling or pride you must first build the courage to speak up or act. You will not be able to accomplish anything unless you can have the courage, be able to tell yourself you can do this, to do what you want or think you should do.  In ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’,  Atticus says ‘I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what’. Atticus was stating what it means to have courage by saying you do not have to point a gun at someone but merely finish whatever your trying to do even though you know it will not be easy. Knowing that you build the courage to complete any task no matter the difficulty, you will gain the feeling of accomplishment which in turn would lead to self pride.

On the other hand, just standing there feeling like that you missed an opportunity to do something that benefits you and others can lead to self shaming. If you know you did something wrong and there are people around to witness it, they themselves will point out the shame that has fell upon you. In time like when ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ is set, and even now, pride and shame are a big part in our lives. It helps define who we are, are we the kind people that gets up and does something or just stands there as the world passes by? People will notice what kind if people we are: pride or shame, accomplishment or guilt, honour or self pity.